I wake up in a haze the next morning, half asleep from the late call with Shane. Carley isn't awake and to avoid her wrath of destruction from waking her up, I creep downstairs.
Dad's sitting at the dining room table, typing on his laptop. I can't see what he's on but whatever it is, it has absorbed his attention completely.
"Hey dad." I call out the first time and as I thought, no reply. "Dad." I call louder; his head shoots up in surprise and turns to me.
"Oh. Morning Sarah. I didn't hear you come down." He says. "How did you sleep? Heard you and Carley last night. Sounds like you guys had fun."
"Yeah. It was pretty cool. I'm still so tired though." I say laughing softly to myself. This small talk with my dad is strange since he works until late with my mom and then is gone again . Don't get me wrong, we're fairly close but it'd be easier if we knew what this project was that he's been working on .
I walk to the kitchen and search the shelves for my vanilla coffee sachets and dad carries on his laptop. I can't help it but my curiosity gets the best of me.
There's a silence before I can't help but ask. "Hey dad... What are you actually working on? I know you've said before that it's a 'work project thing' but you just haven't spoken much and I don't know... I was just wondering."
He looks up at me and I don't understand his expression. An almost happy, thoughtful look but still at the same time trying to keep a straight face?
"Oh. Um don't worry about it honey. You'll all hear about it soon; and its something I don't think anyone's going to forget."
Before I can ask what that means, Carley slumps down the stairs, still half asleep, wrapped in a thick duvet. "Morning." She mumbles.
"Morning Carley." My dad says before shutting his laptop and taking a final gulp of coffee. "Well bye all. I will see you later. I may be late again tonight so if I'm not home for dinner, tell your mother you can start without me."
"Bye." Carley and I call out in unison.
The kettle boils and I grab another mug for the sleeping beauty next to me, already falling asleep on the kitchen counter. "How you feeling?" I ask her.
"Alright." She mumbles. "It's still to early to start thinking about anything so I'll let you know after I've had my coffee."
We sit in silence, sipping our mugs and listening to the soft hum of someone showering upstairs. Must me my mom getting ready to do whatever she does on a Saturday morning.
"So plans for today?" Carley asks, trying to wrap herself tighter in her blanket.
"I don't know." I reply before an idea pops into my head. "I was thinking why don't we go... seeking from prom dresses and then may-"
"Don't try and finish that sentence because obviously my best friend isn't implying that we go shopping for prom, a day after... Yesterday." Carley cuts in and looks at me in shock.
"Oh come on. Look we had planned to do this anyway, and I know somewhere deep down inside you were excited. Plus the 'seeking' implies that we aren't going to actually buy anything. Just look around and get a feel for what we like."
The blank stare on Carley's face still means she's not going anywhere near the stores for the time being, so I decide drop the subject. "Fine. Have it your way. Anything you want to do today?"
"Let's go see that new Liam Neeson movie. I was suppose to go and see it with Blake but..." Just like a trigger, Blake's name sends Carley into a ball of tears. She isn't a person to cry over nothing so this must really be hitting her hard. I hug her and we stand there for a moment, just letting her have her moment.
It takes a couple of minutes before she can speak properly again. "Okay. Why don't we go shower and change and see what today brings. We'll see what happens as we go along." I say trying to comfort my friend.
"Okay. Sounds goods." Carley says and we both take a slow journey up the stairs and towards the guest room.
I check my phone, while Carley eats a left over cupcake from last night. There's a message from Blake:
Hey Sarah.
Sorry for screaming at you yesterday.
I'm not angry at you or Carley.
Just at myself.
Sent her a message, said if she wants to talk we can.
But I haven't gotten a reply.
Please help.
Carley didn't say anything to me. So I guessing that means she's not ready yet. I send Blake a reply:
Hey
Don't think Carley's ready to talk yet.
I can't promise anything but I'll try.
See you Monday.
"Who you talking to?" Carley asks in a far better tone than before.
"Just Daniella. Asking me to bring her coffee if I'm downstairs." I lie. No ways I'm going to tell her I'm conspiring with her ... Ex. Still kinda weird calling Blake that.
"Oh okay and I thought about it. Maybe dress shopping won't be too bad. I mean we don't have to buy anything but it could still be fun."
"Sure. Carls. If you're up for it, I'm in. I'm sure it'll be fun." I say and hug her. At least it'll take her mind off Blake.
***
"Come on Carls just try this on please. It's your color." I shove another dress in Carley's face as she stomps off into the change room.
"If I knew finding the 'perfect dress' would take this long, I'm pretty sure I would have just gone in my ripped skinnies and baggy t-shirt." She yells.
"Well that's your fault and I've got you here now so you may as well enjoy it." I yell back. It's the 15th dress I've gotten Carley to try on you we still haven't even started searching for a dress for me; but honestly I don't care how long this takes. Just so it keeps her mind preoccupied, I'm happy. Moody, dress-shopping Carley is a lot better than crying Carley.
She hasn't said anything yet, like the other dresses and I'm not sure what's going. Has she silently burst into tears ?
"Carls? Is everything okay in there?" I call out. "I'm sure it's not as bad as the yellow one I made you put on. Please come out."
The latch unlocks and Carley steps out almost speechless. I look down to the dress and I can't believe it. She looks incredible. It's a hunter green knee length dress, with a boatneck neckline.
"Carley that looks amazing on you!!" I squeal and shove her towards the full length mirror.
"I'm not going to lie. It doesn't look to bad." She says and turns slightly to check the back.
"Doesn't look THAT BAD? Carley you dweeb it looks amazing!"
We stand in silence for a bit, still in awe how great the dress looks on her. Then I have to pop her bubble with the question we still need to answer. "So Carley... Are we getting it? You can't lie. It looks like it we made for you and it would be a shame if someone else took it."
Her smile fades. Ugh I hate having to do this but we can't sit in the shop forever.
"Well." She begins. "I still don't know if I'm going to prom..."
"Oh man Carley! Let's just go. It's our last chance to go out and have fun before it all ends. You're leaving to who knows where and we may not get another opportunity; and you know what. So what if you're not dating Blake. You guys have enough time to sort things out before then and figure out whether you still want to be together or not but don't let him ruin your last prom ever!"
It takes me a minute to catch my breath after that long rant... But it seems to have changed Carley's mind about prom. Her eyes change from thoughtful and weary to determined. "You're right Sah. Why should Blake determine whether I have fun or not. I'm not a big fan of crowds but Carpe Diem!
"She hugs me quickly and runs back into the change room to get back into her casual clothes calling, "It's your turn!"
She grabs a few dresses off different racks, shoves them at me and pushes me towards the change room.
First dress is a lime green knee length dress with straps. It fits my body in the worst ways possible and I scream out to Carley that I'm not even going to come out and show her. Haha, nice joke Carls.
I rip it off and try on the second one. A floor length sapphire gown with embellishments around the waist. I go out to show Carley and her response isn't what I was looking for.
"It's okay...Try on the nude colored one. It shouldn't be to bad." Carley says from outside the door.
I put it on and am pleasantly surprised. A nude strapless sweetheart neckline with a crystal band just above the bust. It fits just perfectly at the top and flows all the way down to the bottom. It's looks incredible.
I go out to show Carley and she's just as taken back as I am. "What do you think?" I ask her.
"It's perfect." Is all she said and I knew I had to get it. With or without a date, I knew this night would be incredible.
***
"Okay so I think next weekend we should finish the prom essentials by getting our shoes and accessories." I say to Carley on Monday, walking out the cafeteria line and to our table.
"You're really taking the fun out of it and I surprisingly had a good time on Saturday."
"Okay fine. I'm not gonna say anything more." And pretend to zip my mouth and throw away the key.
Carley laughs a little before her smile drops completely and looks at someone behind me. I turn and its Blake looking at us before walking in the other direction towards Shane, Zac and Ryder.
Carley stares down at her sandwich. "Aw I'm sorry Carls." I say.
Before I try and comfort my friend, someone screams somewhere behind me.
"YOU BITCH!! DO YOU HONESTLY THINK YOU WOULD HAVE ANY FRIENDS IF IT WASNT FOR ME? I MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE TODAY!"
Carley and I quickly run over to the large group that has formed around the screaming. We push our way to the front and find the last two people I would have expected.
Sabrina screaming crazy insults at her... Well former best friend Amelia.
"That's the problem! I hate who I've become; and you're right it is because of you. You're a manipulative brat who craves attention so much, it brings you joy to see other people suffer!" Amelia shouts back, her anger growing even more than Sabrina.
"If you think I'm going to let you drive with us to prom in my dad's white limo, you can completely forget about it and if you stop now we can maybe patch up our friendship." Sabrina stands with her arms folded like she's just won the argument but the look of absolute disgust on Amelia's face says differently.
"Do you honestly think I give a damn about your stupid limo or your damn fake friendship. In fact from now on, stay as far away from me as possible. You make friends do these stupid tasks for you. You even used Brittany to ruin another couple's relationship all because your jealous. You're a lonely whore who depends way too much on her daddy's money; and I don't want to be the sad soul who's around you when money can't solve your problems."
Someone hollers from the back of the crowd and it's as if the two have snapped out of a daze and look around at the people who have gathered around.
Sabrina looks embarrassed and runs through the crowd, trying to get away. While everyone around us begin to cheer at the defeat of the wicked witch, my eyes lock onto Blake's before he quickly moves away.
***
After school, Carley and I sit on the couch and watch old episodes of Tom and Jerry.
The doorbell rings and to my surprise, it's Amelia at the door.
"Hey." She says.
"Um hey."
"Can I come in? I need to talk to you."
"Yeah sure." I lead her into the living room and Carley is just as surprised when she sees Amelia.
"Oh hey Carley's here too. Okay well makes this a lot easier." Amelia says and sits down. "So I came over to apologize to you two. I know you guys think I'm a massive bitch and I don't blame you but I just want to say sorry before I don't get the opportunity again."
"Thanks." I say for the two of us.
Amelia carries on. "And I also came to tell you that Sabrina set up that whole thing with Brittany and Blake. She just wanted to make you jealous. You know because Zac's into Sarah and not her so in her mind sabotaging you made sense."
Jeez well I guess we should have expected something like that. Which means Blake is innocent. Carley and I look at each other and I know we're thinking the same thing.
"Um so yeah that's pretty much all I wanted to say to you guys. I think you're actually pretty cool; and I wish I realized how bitchy Sabrina was earlier so that we could actually talk more." She says and gets up.
"Maybe it's not too late." I say and Amelia looks at me surprised, before leaving.
"What was that about?" Carley asks me.
"I don't know; but I do know one thing that you need to do now."
"Call Blake?"
"Yep."
Carley groans and gets up.
I jump back onto the couch and my dad walks through the door.
"Hey dad. Home early today?"
"Hey Sarah. Yeah and I've got some big news. Please come to the dining room so I can show you." He calls.
Can no one let me watch TV in peace?
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So we're back!!! Faster update *applause*
A ton happening in this chapter... We felt really inspired so once we began there was no stopping the mojo flow.
What do you guys think about Amelia and Sabrina's fight?
Dresses will be shown with the full prom descriptions coming soon so what out for that. 😉
And what is this big surprise Sarah's dad has??
What is going on with Blake and Carley?
Will they be together for prom? And will Sarah find a date?
So many questions... And they will all be answered soon enough.
Please don't forget to VOTE and COMMENT!!! Tell us what you think or what you think should happen next?
So this chapter is semi-proof read so if there are a few mistakes we will go through and correct them. Promise promise.
Also a new thing we're trying (a bit late but anyway)... The more comments we get, the faster we will upload the last few chapters.
Until the next time guys.
Love you all
xoxo
Storm and Snow❤️💜